Lightning Round: Top 10 Ways to Execute Effectively
Question: “How do you incorporate customer service into sales conversations?” -A Spotify Fan
Book: Own Your Career Own Your Life: Stop Drifting and Take Control of Your Future by Andy Storch
❖ Send your questions to Meridith and Mark at hello@saleslogicpodcast.com
The following episode was transcribed by AI. Semantic errors may occur.
[00:00] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Hey, this is Meredith Elliott Powell. You know what time it is. It is 8 am Eastern Saturday morning. I’m hanging out here with my partner, mark Hunter. It is our favorite time of the week. Hope it is for you as well. It is time for Sales Logic, mark. What is on tap for today?
[00:16] – Mark Hunter (Host)
We’re going to be talking about how do you build the right sales framework? Now, stop and think about that for a moment. We’re also going to be talking about hey, how do you incorporate customer service into sales conversations?
[00:30] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
We’ve got a great lightning round.
[00:30] – Mark Hunter (Host)
We’ve got a great show.
[00:31] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
We’re going to have fun. All right, let’s get started.
[00:32] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Prospect with integrity, we will get customers who have integrity.
[00:36] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Integrity is the foundation from which everything is built on, from which everything is built on you better understand value, but at the end of the day, sales is a relationship business, it is a people business, it is an emotional business. This is SalesLogic. This is SalesLogic. Now, remember, I always like to invite you to be a part of the show, because the way that this show works is it’s about you, the audience. We answer your questions, your challenges, your problems. All right here on SalesLogic.
[01:30] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Hey, let’s jump into the question. So the topic is how do you build the right sales framework? I jotted down some ideas before we started the show, but I’d love to hear what are your thoughts.
[01:40] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Well, I don’t know. You really came prepared. I’m coming off the cuff. Why don’t you kick it off?
[01:46] – Mark Hunter (Host)
It was one of those rare moments where we both had time to actually plan ahead. I wrote down five things for a really good sales framework. One you got to have the right mindset, self-set, in other words, you got to be in the right position yourself. Two you’ve got to have a structure and a process. Without it, nothing happens. Three you’ve got to have a structure and a process. Without it, nothing happens. Three you’ve got to have knowledge and insights you can bring to your customers about your business, about the industry you’re in, et cetera, et cetera. Four you need support. You need support those around you who can help lift you up, carry you through, help answer questions for you and help guide you through the process. And five it’s repetition. It’s repetition. You talk about it a lot. The sale is made in the follow-up. So those are kind of my five things. I don’t know. Thoughts for you.
[02:33] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, you know I was thinking about, I was really thinking about this topic. It’s so interesting I was speaking at an event. Good morning, bryn, so glad you’re here. Nobody knows a process and a system and a framework better than Bryn Tillman. But I tell you I was really thinking. I got asked in a session yesterday how do you become more disciplined? And it’s a really good question, right, because it is something that I wouldn’t say. It’s a strength of a lot of salespeople. I mean a lot of salespeople. We fly by the seat of our pants, we run really hard, we kind of grab at everything, and a sales framework is, to me, what really helps you get that discipline. Decide what are the steps that it takes you to move a, to find a prospect, to move a prospect, you know, to get them to be a prospect, to move them from suspect to prospect, how do you get them from prospect to customer and how do you get them from customer to close and then close to referral? Like to really sit down and break that down piece by piece.
[03:46] – Mark Hunter (Host)
I think very few salespeople really know how to do that. They just go through the actions because salespeople by nature and this is a real bane of the industry are reactionary in nature. We say we’re actionary but we’re really reactionary. What the customer wants, we go. What the customer does and we work to that process. We have to own it. We have to own it. And it goes back to your first comment about being disciplined Because, again, if you’re not disciplined in your actions, nothing is going to take hold. This is where I still come back to the fact that I’m amazed at the number of salespeople that really do not actively use a CRM system.
[04:26]
I don’t know how you can have any level of business without a CRM system period.
[04:33] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, and I think the term you use there is really important actively use. I think a lot of people have a CRM system but don’t actively use that CRM system. So let’s kind of break it down, let’s you know you were talking about some of the pieces of a sales framework and I think you know the place that you need to start is. Before you ever build the prospect, you have to get incredibly clear on who you are looking for. You can’t build a sales framework just out of the blue. You have to decide who it is really aimed at and who it is that you’re looking for.
[05:15] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And you know what that? Right? There is a real issue because I see so many. I was talking with a company president the other day I’m going to be doing some work for them here in a couple of weeks and he said one of the challenges we have is we get all these incoming leads, inbound leads, and our salespeople jump on them too aggressively yeah, too aggressively. I was very interested that the president of the company said that and he said here’s the deal, because we get really a lot of bad leads and yet our salespeople think that’s the only place they can go to find business. That is absolutely a major problem. You’ve got to understand who it is that you’re chasing. Hugh Hornsby, member of the mastermind. Natalie, member of the mastermind. Thank you, love seeing both of you in here. Hugh writes actually think about creating alignment with your core values. Yes, align with your values, with your why and your company’s why. You know, it’s amazing when everybody’s kind of singing from the same songbook. It’s amazing how much better everything goes.
[06:15] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, so you know. So basically, I love the fact that this president said going after it too aggressively. I mean, one of the things I think that has really shifted about the sales funnel today is for sales professionals to understand we don’t control it. And this whole idea of inbound versus outbound leads I don’t know about you, mark, but inbound leads are valuable in my organization, but the best business I close is the business I go after, is the ones that I set my sights on it and I put together my framework to go after it.
[06:44]
I want to just quickly these are my thoughts of everything that’s involved in a sales framework. I mean, first you’ve got to develop that ICP who’s the ideal customer profile? Then you’ve got to decide at that point who your top 100 is. I mean, I think in every whether it’s a top 50, top 25, top 100, depends on your business, but for me it’s a top 100. These are my suspects that I’m going to go after. And then I’ve got to decide what are the steps I’m going to do to move them from suspect to prospect. Maybe I network at them, maybe I speak at a conference where they are. Maybe, you know, maybe I just do some cold calling or send out some value added materials. Maybe I just do some cold calling or send out some value-added materials.
[07:28]
Then you move that prospect to an actual call. You actually get a series of calls and your framework needs to decide really the first three calls. What are they going to look like? What are you going to go after? How are you going to go from curiosity to discovery, to finding opportunity, and then from there, really, what is your follow-up system? And after your follow-up system, what are you going to do to build and expand that relationship for referrals and more opportunities? But I know if you talk to Mark and I and saw our individual framework, you would see behaviors in every single aspect.
[08:06] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Okay, audience, go back and listen to what Mayor just shared in the last 90 seconds, because it’s absolutely gold and there’s so many pieces there. I want to start at the top, because what you said that your leads that you develop are more valuable than incoming and I think this is so true. And this runs counter to what the sales community believes and this is why this president was saying my people jump on inbound leads. We don’t have any clue as to what they are, but they somehow think that it’s gold.
[08:36]
Here’s the thing when you’re going outbound, when you’re going outbound to create that, you’ve done some work, you know who they are, you know that they fit your ICP and that’s absolutely key. You’ve got to be focused in that and without that you do, you wind up wandering, you’re busy but you’re not productive. And this is what I find so many salespeople they’re going through motions but the motions don’t connect and they’ll never achieve the results. Dave Sanderson, another mastermind member. I had a great conversation with him yesterday talking about the sales logic engine, the search tool, but anyway, he says discipline comes from developing and being immersed in habits. One habit is your process of utilizing your CRM system, dave, thank you, thank you, yes, how to hold the CRM system.
[09:28] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, mark, look who we’ve got here with us this morning. None other than Roberta Moore. I love it. She’s coming to us from from Snowy Charleston, south Carolina. I hope that move has has has gone well and Andy always popping in with great information.
[09:44]
Sales framework is like building furniture from Ikea Determine what room needs it, follow the directions with the right tools, realize it takes time, do not skip a step, and sales is an assembly of carefully crafted steps. That is so beautifully said. You’ve got to really know. I’m amazed the number of organizations that I walk into and I say what is the sales process? What is the best way to attract the ideal customer to this organization? And have you given that to every single member of your sales team Back when I used to work in banking? Jack Hubbard just joined us and he can attest to this. Some of the biggest tragedies I would see is that a bank would attract an unbelievable top producer from another financial institution and that producer would fail in the new financial institution. Now, they didn’t fail because they were not a top producer. They failed because they didn’t understand how sales worked in that organization.
[10:50] – Mark Hunter (Host)
So much, so much truth to that, and this is what we have to do. I mean, I love this. Jack is jumping in. You know, without a sales process, you are a sales ship without a rudder. So spot on. I want to go back to Andy’s comment about Ikea. The only step he left off was you first have to pack it on top of your Volvo, take it home and then take it off of your Volvo. So, anyway, ok, that’s a bad Swedish joke. Anyway, here’s the situation. It really comes down to knowing what your steps are and not deviating from it. It’s like you know. It’s like what Jack says. It’s like making a recipe you leave out an ingredient, a key ingredient, and it doesn’t cook up. Well, you’ve got to make sure that every step is in there, and that’s what salespeople are so notorious, because they want to race to the close. They want to race to close. And then they wonder why they can’t close.
[11:39] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Hello, because you’re in your three steps.
[11:42]
Yeah, alan, I love what you’re saying here. The discussion on process so many salespeople want to skip ahead. You know so much in life is about understanding what the map is to get there, and then’s important to discuss is to review it on a regular basis. You know, back in the dark ages when I started in sales, one sales process would kind of do you. It would last probably five, six, seven years because the marketplace didn’t change that much. Now it changes a lot. But I tell you, having a sales process and tracking my behaviors is what helps me stay productive and not focus on being busy.
[12:32] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Because what you’re doing is you’re analyzing your process as you go. Now this is again. This is a little piece that salespeople kind of fall down on. What Maris talked about is she measures. She measures her process, which is key. But you got to make sure you’re measuring the right thing. Measure the right thing. I measure, for instance, conversations, the actual conversations I’m having with people. Sure, I love you know. You know sending out emails Okay, that’s great, but you know what I want to have that conversation. Know and understand what your metrics are. We’ve talked about this before but know what it it is and that has to be fundamental and you stay locked in on that because, again, the right sales framework is is really doing the same thing. Over it, it almost becomes boring, but you know what top performing sales people will admit that what they do is boring, but they’re incredibly successful.
[13:26] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I saw. I saw an interview, I don’t know, probably five or six years ago, with Gabrielle Reese, the, the famous volleyball player, and they were asking her how do you stay in such phenomenal shape? And she say she says I have workouts that I do, I have patterns that I repeat on a daily basis. But she said the key is I do it whether I want to or not. And she said that is the difference between people who elevate and people who don’t.
[13:56]
You know, you can just take a broad stroke to sales, but if you’re doing it without a framework, you are missing a couple of very important components. Number one, you’re making it so much harder than it has to be. And, number two, you are not using the information, your own data, to determine whether what you’re doing is working or isn’t working. I mean, think of it like going on a diet or a physical fitness routine. We’re recording this at the beginning of the year and many of us have committed that this is going to be the year we get healthy right. So everybody plateaus and your sales process plateaus to your sales framework plateaus. And if you’re not measuring what you’re doing, if you’re not conscious of the steps that you’re taking, you have no ability to ensure you keep what is working and let go of what is’t.
[14:48] – Mark Hunter (Host)
There’s again so much value in what you shared there and I think it really comes back to that discipline of how you start your day. I mean, again, success in sales is easy. You said the word, I’ll use the word it is easy. It’s. Success in sales is easy if you’re disciplined and do the work, the routine and stay focused. But again, that’s what so many salespeople fail to do. You have to be absolutely caught up. And what does this mean? You know we always want to be analyzing our sales process Totally. Get that, totally, understand it Because again, like you said, you know, back when you got in the business, same process would work for five or six years. Now it seems like it works for only six months.
[15:29]
The challenge is to make sure that we don’t get caught up in shiny objects. You know shiny tools like right now it’s AI, ai, ai, ai and AI tools are great, but let’s not go so far. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We’ve got to understand how do we use that and how does it fit in? Many times, the change to our process are just minor tweaks. You’re just adjusting something, a little bit here and a little bit there, and it’s making down. I love what Bryn is saying Slow down your outreach to speed up your outcome. That is so key. I always say what’s amazing is when I go slow at the beginning of the sales process, I can actually close the deal faster.
[16:09] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Right.
[16:09] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Because I’ve had better conversations, I’m qualifying better and I really get to the need of what the customer is looking for.
[16:16] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I love this too, because back when I used to work with Jack Hubbard in banking, he used to tell us not to do howdy duty calls, not to go out. Just like you know, you need to tick off 12 calls that you’ve had today. Really, ask yourself. I was in my CRM this morning looking at who I was going to make some calls on today and I had a couple that popped up into my CRM that, quite frankly, they’re a waste of my time. I don’t know what they’re doing in there. I needed to get them out Now. I could have just clicked them off because they’re easy calls to make, but there isn’t. It’s not really worth my time, and I think that’s the other thing. Don’t do your framework for your boss. Don’t do your framework for your boss. Don’t do it for your sales leader.
[16:53] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Do your framework do your framework for you, you know. You know that means you’ve got to have that conversation with your boss because, again, so many salespeople, what they do is they oh, I can’t take this out, I can’t take this out. I can’t take this out because I got, I got to show my boss and I have a full pipeline. So you wind up keeping crap in there point blank, and that is so wrong. We have got to be making sure that your process is focused on moving people through. And what does this mean? This comes back to, I think, in the part that we tend to blow the most is the discovery phase. It’s what you know and tech you know. Discovery phase, where you’re sitting out, but every sales call understanding the needs, understanding the needs and I’ve got to do a much better, clearer job and understanding the needs does not mean that you, the salesperson, are doing the talking. We need to shut up and listen. Just let the customer talk to us.
[17:46] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
You know that is so true.
[17:48]
I mean, sales is really the easiest thing in the world because if you just be quiet, customers will tell you exactly what they want, exactly how they want it and exactly in the order that they want it.
[17:59]
And while I agree that we mess up the discovery part, I think the bigger part that we mess up is not qualifying the customer right on the front end, like we. I was talking to a group about this when I was in Phoenix this week. I was talking to a group of top producers and I was saying I think the biggest mistake I see salespeople make and I make it too we get so turned on by trying to land the deal. It’s almost like the more obstinate you are, the more turned on I am by trying to close this deal and I have landed more business that has been a complete and colossal waste of my time by getting turned on by the process rather than really backing up and saying I am in this business to see if I can help this person. And I think where we fall short of the framework and where the most the heavy lift needs to come is in your area of expertise, mark, getting very, very clear on who that prospect is and then immediately qualifying that prospect by research and the very first conversation.
[19:04] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And staying zeroed in on that. And again, if the dog don’t hunt, let the dog go. It’s okay to let the dog go. But again, sales is easy when you’ve got enough people in your pipeline, when you’ve got, when you’re out there doing enough work, and that way you can be more productive. Because it does, it prevents you from getting.
[19:28]
You’re bringing this customer in, you’re going to land the plane, you’re going to close the deal and you’re wondering why am I on this plane to begin with? It does not make sense and that kind of ties into the question that we got. We got a question sent to us anonymous how do you incorporate customer service into customer conversations? Stop and think about that. You know it’s interesting. I put that into the sales logic brain and came back with two really powerful tips and that is we got to be providing more solutions and think about that throughout the sales process, providing more solutions. And the other piece brought up four or five and I’m just going to talk about to follow up, follow up. We really create customer service by following up, by staying engaged with the customer customer service by following up, by staying engaged with the customer.
[20:17] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I think the customer service is, it is married in to the sales, the sales process. I think a couple of things. I think on the front end it’s about urgent need. Far too often we go into a sales call and we’re we because we’ve done great homework and because we’re experts, we know what this, we know what this person needs. But the truth is, until you listen, you’ve got to figure out what is most important to them and if you can be of service first, if you can help them with something first, that’s going to be, that’s going to be incredibly valuable. Where customer service really comes in to the sales process is that sales does not end when you close the deal. That’s really when it’s just beginning, and every time there’s a customer service issue there’s an opportunity to sell inside that customer. I feel like it’s a dance, constantly back and forth. I’m serving, selling, serving, selling, but as you said, Mark, I’m selling to solve a problem and provide a solution.
[21:17] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Yeah, and serving is one of the easiest ways to create the referrals Because, again, we don’t close a deal, we open a relationship. This is so key. This is so key. I mean it’s. It’s interesting. I love what Jack is chiming in with Buyers have answers. I love what Jack is chiming in with Buyers have answers. Sellers need questions, good ones. Yes, it really. I think the most valuable tool we can bring to any sales process is just having great questions. Having great questions and the intuition to know how to handle them and how to respond to them and how to do the follow-up question, because I always say, every question I ask begs at least three or four more questions based on what the customer shares.
[21:57] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, and I think that I think I would say with the right questions, I think the place that you need to begin is with the right intent. You’ve really got to go into sales with very much a a servant’s heart. That’s why, to me, working a framework is so important and so easy. It keeps me consistent at reaching out. The other thing it does is a framework and my consistent behaviors keeps me from getting desperate, and if I am not desperate, I remain in servant mode. The moment that my pipeline is dry or getting on the low end, I get fearful, and when I get fearful, I get me-centric.
[22:37] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And when you do that you become very product-centric and you’re right, you get commission breath and all that sort of stuff. You know. Again it comes back to why are we in sales? We’re in sales to help people. We are in sales to help people. I love what Roberta Moore is jumping in and saying. In my business, a lot of prospects don’t need what they think they need, so I have to explain a lot to really go deep in the issues. It almost is this challenge that a lot of times we almost have to de-educate the customer because, again, they think they know what they want. But that’s where it comes back to. We have to have enough of a relationship with them to be able to help them understand that what we’re sharing with you is really the right information and not something else.
[23:21] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I love this because Andy also chimed in and said is it that we have to discover the need or do we have to create the need? And I love what Roberta is saying is that often customers don’t understand what they need. And they don’t because it’s not their job. Their job is only to know that they have a problem. We’ve got to figure out how to how to basically solve that. You can guide the customer to any type of solution if you slow down and you listen first, because listening first creates trust first, because listening first creates trust, and I trust you. Then, when you start to present a solution that feels foreign to me, I’m open to it because you listened. You listened to me first, mark, we are burning.
[24:06] – Mark Hunter (Host)
It’s absolutely. And I want to pick up on what Andy said, this whole need thing, you know. You know, are we discovering need? Are we uncovering need? What is it? I think many times the need that the customer has to us is not the correct need. That’s where we can shape them and help them understand what is the right need that they have to fill. Okay, hey, the book. I’m going to pull a little bit of a curve on it. The book is own your career, own your life Drifting and Take Control of your Future. I think it’s an absolutely outstanding book. I just uncovered it this morning and I’m already digging into it and I love it. And it’s out there on Amazon. We will put the link out there.
[24:48] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I think it’s a really important just a really, really important book and you should take a look at it. It’s very much spin on the fact that don’t sit around and wait for somebody else. Grab hold of your career and your life.
[25:02] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Hey, bill Snow is jumping in. He’s saying hey, meredith, have you had success calling prospects on a Saturday? I closed an appointment about half an hour ago by way of text messaging. So yes, and I know you do too, right.
[25:18] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, I just said I’ve had a lot of luck with it and we’ll discuss that on another show, so I think that’d be a good idea.
[25:26] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Lightning round top 10 ways to execute effectively.
[25:29] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Go Number one, have a plan, have a strategy.
[25:32] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Number two stay disciplined, Don’t wander.
[25:41] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, number three get an accountability partner If you want to execute tell somebody else what you’ve got to execute.
[25:43] – Mark Hunter (Host)
on Number four, believe in the people you’re helping. It’s about the people you’re helping, not the product you’re selling.
[25:48] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, Number five gather the stories of what you have executed on.
[25:55] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Number six celebrate your past successes. Use them to motivate you driving forward.
[26:00] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, number seven, my favorite make a to-do list If you want to execute, write down what’s got to happen that day and really put together the priorities.
[26:07] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Number eight start strong. How you spend the first hour of the day determines the day.
[26:13] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah, if you want to execute effectively number nine, just do it. Just set the goal of what you’re going to execute on that day, Make it no more than three and make it happen.
[26:23] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Number 10, play the long game. There will be days that things don’t go right. Play the long game and you’ll stay focused. Wow, Great episode this morning. We got another SalesLogic Expert Exchange coming up on Monday and of course these happen. The fourth.
[26:36] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Four o’clock Eastern.
[26:38] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Four o’clock Eastern. They happen the fourth Monday of each month where we have an expert and Mary and I get to really interview them. So that’s great. Check out the SalesLogic Mastermind. We got a lot of members on.
[26:49] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
Yeah.
[26:50] – Mark Hunter (Host)
It’s absolutely outstanding. But hey, with that, we want to say thank you for listening to Sales Logic this week. You like what you hear? Subscribe, rate and review the show on your favorite podcast app. Something we’ve said has helped you earn a dollar Consider telling a friend about our show, because it’s how we grow, when we help you grow. I’m Mark Hunter.
[27:08] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
And I’m Meredith Elliott Powell.
[27:09] – Mark Hunter (Host)
Remember when you sell with confidence and integrity.
[27:12] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
All of this uncertainty suddenly becomes your competitive advantage.
[27:16] – Mark Hunter (Host)
And the sale becomes logical.
[27:18] – Meridith Elliott Powell (Host)
All right Couple of things. To wrap up, Plan on joining us this Monday for Eastern for the SalesLogic Expert Exchange. We’ve got the powerhouse Sherry Levitin joining us to talk about storytelling. Number two, join us at the Sales Logic Mastermind. We got a powerful group bound together to help each other achieve our goals in 2025. You got questions for this podcast? Send them to Sales Logic Podcast. We’ll see you right back here next week at AM Eastern.